Dallas Cowboys and Indianapolis Colts are Two Favorite Teams Among U.S. Adults Who Follow Professional Football, According to Harris Poll

The Dallas Cowboys may be a few years from their last Super Bowl, but they are the favorite football team among adults who follow professional football, rising one spot since last year. Since this survey began in 1998, the Cowboys have always been in one of the top four positions, usually in the top two. The Indianapolis Colts have continued their steady rise in the rankings and move up one spot, from No. 3 last year to No 2 this year. In 1999, the Colts were tied for No. 27 and have moved up each year since. Rounding out the top five are the Pittsburgh Steelers (No. 3, dropping from No. 1 last year), the Green Bay Packers (remaining at No. 4) and the Chicago Bears (No. 5, moving up one spot).

These are the results of a nationwide survey conducted online by Harris Interactive^® between September 11 and 18, 2007 among 2,392 U.S. adults, of whom 1,182 follow professional football.

Other results from this year’s poll include:

• The two teams that made the largest movements up the list since last year are the San Diego Chargers who moved up from tied for 23^rd to No. 10, a jump of 13 spots, and the New Orleans Saints, who moved up 10 positions, from No. 31 to tied for No. 21;
• The two teams that lost the most ground since last year are the Tennessee Titans, who dropped 11 spots, from No. 15 in 2006 to tied for No. 26 this year, and the Detroit Lions, who moved from tied for No. 17 to No. 25, a drop of eight points;
• Regionally speaking, the New York Giants are the No. 1 favorite of those in the East, while the Green Bay Packers are No. 1 for those in the Midwest. In the South, the Cowboys come out on top and in the West, the San Francisco 49ers are the favorite team;
• The percentage of those who say they follow professional football remains stable at about half of all adults (49% this year);
• Perhaps, not surprisingly, men (63%) are more likely to follow professional football than women (37%);
• Over half (55%) of Baby Boomers (those aged 43-61) follow football, making it the largest generation of football followers. Just under half (49%) of both Gen Xers (those aged 31-42) and Matures (those aged 62 and older) follow football but just 42 percent of Echo Boomers (those aged 18-30) follow the sport;
• The more education one has, the more likely one follows professional football. While three in five (60%) of those with a post grad degree follow football, 45 percent of those with a high school degree or less follow it.

Harris Interactive also asked adults who follow professional football to look into the future and say which team they think will win the Super Bowl. One-quarter (25%) say that the Indianapolis Colts will be the winners, while 23 percent say that it will be New England Patriots. These are the only two teams in double digits, but there are always die-hard fans for every team, as each of the 32 NFL teams are named as a potential Super Bowl winner by at least some respondents (albeit some at a very small percentage).

"Do you follow professional football?"

Base: All adults

"Do you follow professional football?"

Base: All adults

"What are your two favorite National Football League teams?"

Base: Adults who follow professional football

"=" indicates a tie

NA = not applicable for that year.

Note: Respondents provided list of teams

In 1998, 1999 the Tennessee Titans were the Houston Oilers.

"What are your two favorite National Football League teams?"

Base: Adults who follow professional football

"Regardless of your favorite team, who do you think will win the Super Bowl this year?"

Base: Adults who follow professional football

*Less than 0.5 percent.

This Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between September 11 and 18, 2007 among 2,392 adults (aged 18 and over) of whom 1,182 follow professional football. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

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